BourbonTrail
AH legend
- Joined
- Jan 25, 2021
- Messages
- 2,299
- Reaction score
- 7,216
- Media
- 15
- Hunted
- USA (AZ, KY, MO, NM, VA), RSA
Glad you made it safely to camp, looking forward to your stories!
1st update…
Qatar airways is knocking it out of the park.. check in with the rifles was a breeze.. the guy at the check in counter was polite, attentive, and was prepared for us when we arrived..
Qatar requires a bit more paperwork and has a more elaborate process than other airlines I’ve flown with… but Mohammad at DFW is a rock star.. in less than 30 minutes he had us ready to progress to TSA and then personally escorted us to the TSA station where we had the rifles and cases inspected and stood by until he personally witnessed the TSA agent put the cases on the conveyor belt to be loaded on the plane..
Top notch service from Qatar Airways…
Now we just sit and enjoy a cold one while we wait to board…
So Qatar Airways has been great.. even back here in coach class.. comfortable seats, friendly staff, decent food.. and the second flight from Doha to Joberg is only about 1/3 full, so lots of space to stretch out is available.. the free inflight WiFi is a nice touch as well… I’m typing this as I fly over Mogadishu…
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Qatar airport police however were a bit of a disaster… they decided I couldn’t have several items and seized them from my bags.. More on that to follow later.. nothing that will have any impact on my hunt.. but they did take items intended for some South African friends.. some of the truly silly and for no justifiable reason.. like 10lbs of powdered steel… but, take them they did.. all while showing me on video that they were taking them…
@mdwestRowland Ward eland down!… 35 3/4”…
We headed out about 645 with the intent of repeating yesterday’s process.. get to the top of the hill across from the mountain where the eland sun before the first rays of light thought the mountainside.. and then glass for a few hours and see what comes in…
On the way to the mountain our plans were temporarily delayed when the big 25” impala from yesterday stepped out from the shadows along the way… we couldn’t resist and the morning eland hunt quickly became a morning impala hunt..
About a 30 minute cat and mouse type stalk took place with the mouse winning.. ultimately the impala got away.. so we set off again on the original plan.. just a little later..
When we got to the mountain we found it loaded with eland, impala, and kudu… probably 25 animals were in view.. but no large, mature, eland bull…
And then things changed… out stepped a monster from behind a large bush a full 3/4 the way up the slope…we initially ranged him at 550 yards and probably 250 higher in elevation from our position..
We decided to give chase and try to find a path through the thick bush to close the gap… after about 20 minutes we manage to get to a position ranged at 235 meters away with about 100 feet difference in elevation, and realized this was as close as we could possibly get under the circumstances… so the sticks went up, the .35 Whelen barked, and down went a massive blue bull…
Now the fun begins… how to get this 1600lb beast off the mountain???
That’s easy.. call John, the head skinner and tell him to call all of his friends, and bring the truck and a tilt trailer John!
John and his band of merry men show up shortly and literally cut a path down the mountain with machetes, and drag the beast down by hand, and have it loaded on the trailer in less than half an hour… these guys are amazing workers!
Back to the lodge for a lunch of kudu meat pie and to make a plan for the rest of the day… the priority was a springbok, then at the end of the day make a play get bushbuck..
More tomorrow (and pics)… the jet lag is killing me right now.. I’ve gotta get some sleep
Dave,
Following along! Hope to be there myself in the near future with my boys! Hopefully it will work out and you can be there as well and we can molest a few dozen castles over the bush tv! Hunt well,
Cody